Ashi Hi Banvabanvi
After a long hectic day, we wish and crave for a nice cup of coffee and some rest. I personally trust comedy movies as my type of relaxation. Thus watching classic comedy movies across languages is a practice I follow to unwind myself. All we need is a hearty laugh and stress-free moments to cherish. There is this movie which I can totally vouch upon at any given time and I guarantee that fits of laughter would increase many folds each time I watch it. That iconic movie is the cult classic comedy and my alltime favourite Marathi movie ‘Ashi Hi Banvabanvi’ (1988).
‘Ashi Hi Banvabanvi’ (1988) is a multistarrer, blockbuster hit movie which was brought by V. Shantaram Productions. This Sachin Pilgaonkar directorial features many legendary Marathi artists who made their given characters immortal and place in people’s hearts, irreplaceable. It was an official remake of ‘Biwi Aur Makaan’ (1966) directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, from which the basic story-line was adapted. But the popularity of Ashi Hi Banvabanvi surpassed all heights, and this remarkable movie later served as an inspiration to the plots of many comedy movies across Indian regional languages.
The movie revolves around four lead characters Dhananjay Mane, Parshya (Parvati), Sudhir (Sudha) and Shantanu Mane and their house-hunting around Pune city in the late 80’s. All these close friends with only Dhananjay being employed at first go through a lot of difficulties in search of a place to stay. With many comic instances happening through the process, how eventually they come up with a hilarious idea of posing as married couples with Parshya and Sudhir being Dhananjay and Shantanu’s wives respectively and the way they manage throughout the disguise game forms the crux of the story. The individual love stories of all these lead characters unfold and blossom during this whole scene, hence that adds on to the funny instances even more!
The main highlights of this movies are the dialogues, punch lines and the way these legendary artists portray their respective characters. Actors like Ashok Saraf, Laxmikant Berde, Sachin Pilgaonkar, Ashwini Bhave, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Priya Berde, etc had come together in this movie for the first time. Sachin Pilgaonkar donned many hats for the making of Ashi Hi Banvabanvi, may it be acting, direction, choreography, playback singing and many more. In an interview, Sachin had mentioned about him promising V. Shantaram about making a superhit comedy movie under the veteran’s production label, and how he succeeded in keeping the promise. The actors, while playing their characters have actually improvised in a lot of scenes, which gave rise to epic lines like ‘Dhananjay Mane Ithech Rahtat Ka?’, ‘Ha Majha Bayko Parvati’ and ‘Sarkha Sarkha Tyach Jhadaavar Kay?’.
In my opinion, watching ‘Ashi Hi Banvabanvi’ itself serves as an experience afresh. I have watched it several times, and would never be tired of watching it over and over again. All thanks to the entire team for this 33 year old marvel, which still goes strong and the love among Marathi masses for it won’t ever fade. Please watch it and the experience you would get is something that shouldn’t be missed at all! Ashi Hi Banvabanvi, now available on Amazon Prime and YouTube.
Disclaimer: The above review solely illustrates the views of the writer.